Secret Identity
by Sanru
Summary: Its second nature for a transformer to hide in plain sight -something that he has always taken for granted- but now it's a matter of survival. With the Decepticons closing in and his friends and team still a long way away, Silverbolt finds himself struggling to reach the Autobots with one of the inconvenient alt modes he has ever had while trying to remain hidden.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.

Author Notes: This story is set back in 1986 so don't expect to see any of the modern amenities that we are so use to today. Like cellphones, high speed internet, and apps.

Because there is certainly no app for this…

Possible disturbing imagery in this chapter (?), but don't worry. What is eluded to never happen, everything will be explained later in the story

* * *

Secret Identity

Chapter One

* * *

She opened her eyes.

For a second she just stared straight ahead, trying to make out exactly what she was seeing. The ground was rough and uneven before her, hillocks and small mounds of dirt causing the landscape to raise and fall as far as the dim light was letting her see. Tall grass rose like spires from the ground, swaying back and forth slightly. Bewildered, she turned her head as much as she could, still seeing only grass swaying in a nightly breeze. She was laying on her side and twisted her head as far as it would go to one side, seeing a bright starlit night framed with the tops of swaying grass above her.

She sat up, moving stiffly as muscles protested the odd position they had been forced to stay in for too long. She grimaced as some of her joints cracked and popped back into place as she glanced around. Even sitting up she couldn't see over the grasses that surrounded and protected her. With a huff she rolled herself up of the ground and stood up, finally rising above the walls of plant life.

She was in a sea of tall grasses come up almost to her waist. She turned in a slow circle looking for anything around her other than grass but she didn't see anything in the moonlight. A gentle breeze blew up, causing the grass around her to dance while her hair shifted restlessly against her. "Where am I?" she asked the breeze for no particular reason. She glanced around real quick again, just standing still this time as her head snapped back and forth. "How did I get here?" she asked no one again.

As she stood there alone in the field she came to a horrid realization. She didn't know who she was, how she got to this field in the middle of nowhere, or what had happened to her. Shivering, but not from the slight chill in the breeze, she wrapped her arms around herself in a loose hug. She was terrified. Amnesia wasn't something that just developed. Something bad had happened to her, bad enough that her mind had blanked itself out to protect her. She took a shaky breath and forced herself to not panic. Panicking wasn't going to help her right now.

It was then that she realized she wasn't wearing anything.

A whimpering sob escaped her as she covered her mouth with one hand while still holding her other arm around her stomach. She sunk to her knees taking shuddering breaths and swallowing back bile that kept rising up in her throat. The panic came back full force as hundreds of scenarios as to what had happened to her came rushing back. She couldn't do anything except try to breath, cry and not throw up all at once. Despite the chill in the air she began to sweat and her face began to feel unnaturally hot.

She eventually lost the battle and ended up retching on the ground, dry heaving as her stomach tried to expel all the bad thoughts and realizations of what could have possible happened to her. Trembling, she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth when she was done. Her stomach was still turning and flopping about uneasily but for the moment it didn't feel like she was going to throw up right away again.

She shuffled back away from what little she managed to expel and sat back on her ankles with both arms wrapped about her waist protectively. The wind stirred the surrounding grass and her hair again as she continued to stare off into space, trembling badly, for what seemed like several hours. Her mind continued to loop back in on itself as she tried to come to terms with what had happened to her.

Noise and light suddenly snapped her out of the haze she had become lost in and she dropped down more behind the protective cover of grass around her. Her trembling reached an all new level as she watched the headlights speed past, the drone of the car's engine began to fade away as she knelt there behind the protective wall of grass. _It was just a car, it was just a car driving by,_ she repeated to herself over and over again trying to calm down. She forced herself to breath in and out slowly. There was something about the roar of that engine that was both familiar and terrifying. She could tell that it was a sports car just by the way the high performance engine sounded and, for whatever reason- that terrified her.

Whatever had happened to her it had involved a sports car.

The realization gave her a moment of clarity and she searched about for her clothes. She had to get away from there before _they_ came back. Not seeing anything she began moving about in the grass, staying low to try and make it difficult to notice her, and searched about the surrounding area. Still, even moving in even widening circles from where she woke up, there were no signs of any discarded garments or even signs of anyone moving to or from where she had woken up.

"Weird," she whispered to herself as she sat up and looked over the grass. Where she had moved through the grass it had bent down and stayed down, clearly marking her path. If she had been brought down from the road and left there, surely there would be a path leaving to the spot, right? She stood up again and looked out over the sea of grass trying to discern any kind of path leading to her spot. Nothing, if she used her paths as an example, it would be quite obvious if someone had brought her down there. Even if she had been thrown from a vehicle -which was highly doubtful considering how far from the road she was- there would have been some kind of path in the grass leading to her. It was like she had just appeared in the middle of the field.

There was something about this entire situation that was highly disconcerting for her and she suddenly had an urge to run and get as far away from her current location as possible. She didn't know who _they_ were but she did know that they would soon come looking for her. She couldn't let them catch her, she had to get moving.

With one last glance about her, she jumped to her feet and started running through the grass staying parallel to the road. She didn't know where she was going but she knew she had to move. Her hair whipped about her as she ran and her feet impacted the ground with a constant dull thump each time they touched down. Her breath became labored as she ran but no matter how far or hard she ran all she could see was grass and darkness, even the stars were barely noticeable in the night sky.

Suddenly the ground gave out from beneath her and she fell into open space with a cry. She tumbled down into the gully that had been hidden by the tall grass, coming to a stop as she flopped into the muddy water lining the water. A sound of disgust escaped her as she lifted her face out of the mud and she ineffectively tried to wipe it clean with an equally muddy hand. Somehow she had gotten mud in her mouth and she spit off to the side trying to get the taste out of her mouth.

"Primus be slagged," she gripped to herself as she started to pick herself up. She struggled to her feet, trying to wipe the mud off her as she tried to keep her balance in the muddy water that came up to her ankles. "This is disgusting," She spit off to the side after her declaration, still trying to get the mud out of her mouth.

She spent a few more minutes trying to wipe the mud off herself before climbing up the other side of the gully, grumbling under her breath the entire time. When she reached the top she looked around, suddenly feeling tired as she looked over the sea of grass. It seemed to never end. With a sigh she started jogging in the same direction she had been running before she had fallen, though this time she kept a careful eye on the grass in front of her. She didn't want to take another tumble.

As she jogged along she started to realize just how cold she was and the mud still sticking to her was only making it more obvious. She shivered and rubbed at her arms, generating some heat but it was quickly whisked away as the wind picked up again. She slowed to a stop and then fell to her knees trying to use the grass as a rather ineffective wind block. She continued to rub at her arms and glared up in the direction of the wind as if that would make it stop.

"I need a plan," she said, the sound of her voice comforted her somehow. "I need to figure out what to do. This is getting me nowhere." Putting distance between her and her attackers was the largest priority but she also had other needs to attend to. She needed clothes -and to get the mud off her-as well as food and water eventually. How was she going to get those when she was in the middle of nowhere with literally nothing on her?

After sitting there for a few more minutes trying to decide what she was going to do, she finally sighed, got up and started moving again. She still had no real direction on where she was going or how she was going to get anything but she could at least keep moving. It was almost like there was a counter in her mind, slowly ticking down, reminding her that she was running out of time. She was just going to have to hope that some grand idea would come to her.

It turned out that it wasn't an idea, just a stroke of luck. She was stumbling along, half walking and half jogging, when she noticed off in the distance something sitting up on the side of the road. As she got closer she could make out the silhouette of a small compact car sitting on the road side. As soon as she realized that it wasn't a sports car she let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in.

Still, even though it wasn't a sports car, she approached it cautiously. She felt a little silly stalking the car through the grass but it wasn't nearly as bad as when she stopped on the opposite side of the guard rail from the car, still hidden in the grass, and said, "You're not going to attack me, right?"

After a few seconds of silence she shook her head at her own silliness and approached the car which appeared to be an old battered Honda sedan of an indiscernible color under all the rust. There was a good chance that it had either broken down or run out of gas but at that point she was more interested in what may be on the inside. Keeping an ear out for any approaching engines, she crept up to the side of the car and peered into the windows.

There was no sign of anyone in the car but there was a pile of objects scattered about its interior. She tried the handle, unsurprised to find it locked. She tried the passenger side door with the same result and snuck around the car to try the other two doors. The driver's side door popped open easily and the door squeaked loudly as she opened it. She winced at the loud noise but, since the road was still empty, she reached around and popped the lock on the back door before opening it to explore the odd collection scattered across the back seat and down onto the floor.

She dug through the junk scattered on the floor, seat and even up onto the back ledge under the rear window but only pulled out a handful of useful objects. All the articles of clothing she could find were immediately put on. A black tank top along with a silvery white jacket that had some kind of logo across the back of the shoulders were slipped on and a rather small red backpack that seemed to have more straps on it than was really necessary was clutched tightly in one hand as she continued to dig around in the backseat. She found a pair of socks that smelled as if they had been used in the gym more than once and maybe never even washed. She decided to leave those where they lay. She didn't need them that bad.

She also grabbed a handful of non-wearable items. Whoever actually owned the car seemed to be into a number of outdoor activities, including camping. She shoved a coil of rope into the bag along with a handful of granola bars that had been scattered randomly about the backseat. Random change and a few bills were also laying about and those were all tucked into one of the side pockets for her to count out later. She also found a rather large hunting knife that was in a sheath and could be fit on a belt but she could find a belt. Or pants. With the backseat cannibalize of all essential things she could find, she closed the back door and reached into the front seat long enough to pop the trunk.

In the trunk was where she hit pay dirt. A heavy pair of olive green canvas pants and a pair of rather beat up black shoes, that were a tad bit to large but still serviceable with the lacing tightened down. There was a black belt that she put on gratefully because the pants were about two sizes too big. After finishing getting dressed, she continued to dig about in the trunk, finding a few more dollars and some more change along few a heavy black hoodie that had its sleeve cuffs torn up. A red baseball cap, pair of heavy duty gloves, a lighter, a can of hairspray, and a heavy black flashlight were also thrown into the red bag.

Closing the trunk she headed back to the front seat and slipped into the driver's seat to go over the collections of stuff in the front seat. There she hit pay dirt again, finding a ten and five dollar bill in the collection of random junk. In the glove compartment she found a wrench, a screwdriver and a pair of needle nose pliers which were all added to the other small side pocket. The last thing she grabbed from the car before leaving were a pair of black aviator sunglasses tucked up in the visor that she tucked away in the bag.

She took the time to wipe the mud off her face with a rag she found in the front seat before closing the door and she walked around to the front of the car. She took the time to memorize the license plate number before she started walking down the road. If it was at all possible, she was going to make sure that the owner of the vehicle got back everything she had borrowed from him or her.

She slid the backpack on and debated whether or not she should head back into the field. While the grass would make it easier to follow her in, the road was too open for her liking. Anyone could see her walking on the side of the road. With that thought she stopped and looked all around herself, even glancing up at the sky, looking for what she wasn't sure but she knew -whatever it was- it was out to get her. She shook her head as she started walking again. She was beginning to sound like Red A-

High performance engines were coming up fast from behind her and broke her train of thought. They were much more powerful than the car engine that had flown past her before and there was something about them that was both familiar and causing her stomach to flip in on itself in fear again.

It was _them_.

She was moving before she even realized she had started to get off the road. Vaulting over the guard rail and doing a mad stumbling run down the bank. There was some kind of bush halfway down that she jumped into, mentally cursing to herself as the thorns on the bush caught at her borrowed clothes and hair. She was able to twist herself around so that she could see the road, already awash with the head lights of the two cars moving much too fast for any normal car.

They roared past her hiding spot, the ground all but shaking from their engines. They were there and gone again in seconds, flying up the road at a speed way above the posted limit. They were gone from view as soon as they had appeared, only the sound of their engines still echoing in the night air. She didn't bother looking after them, too fixated on the image of the two cars that had just flown by. A yellow formula one race car and a gray Ferrari with deep red windows. Her fingers dug into the earth as she hissed out a single word in pure contempt and anger.

"_Stunticons_."

She crouched in the thorny bush for a moment longer, gritting her teeth as she continued to stare at the road where the two cars had just raced past. Memories swirled about in her mind as mumbled, "Frag." Those mechs were dangerous and a menace to everyone they came across. If she hadn't gotten off the road they probably would have hit her just because she was walking on the side of the road. "Frag!" She was in no position to fight them and, knowing them, they had something to do with her situation. "_Fraggit_!"

She was up then, ignoring the thorns that torn at her as she ran for the woods on the far side of the field. If Drag Strip and Wildrider had just drove past, there was a good chance that Dead End and Breakdown were right behind them. Or _Motormaster_. She seethed as she ran. She couldn't believe that she was running from them, she should have been after them, stopping them, before they hurt someone. There was little she could do against them however, not when she was stuck like this.

Stuck like this? She had reached the forest by then, still running full tilt through the trees as she pondered what she had thought. Stuck? What on earth had she meant by that? She was just a human who happened to wake up alone, with amnesia, naked, in the middle of a field with no one sign of how she got there. She dodged around a tree, how could she have stopped the Stunticons before she was 'stuck' like this? What had she forgotten? Who really was she?

That was when the ground chose to vanish from underneath her again.

A startled gasp escaped her as she fell and tumbled down the steep slope. She managed to twist herself around so that she was sliding down the slope instead of rolling uncontrollably. Branches and roots tore at her and her clothing as she slid. She could only hope that her backpack wouldn't be torn off. In a cascade of dead leaves and dirt, she came to a halt at the base of the steep incline. Limbs spread in awkward directions she let her head just thump back against the earth in relief. She closed her eyes for a moment to try and get her heart to stop hammering in her chest.

She didn't expect to drift off to sleep.

-Break-

Clouds.

It was hard to believe that all they were small droplets of water forming around dust or some other small particle suspended in the atmosphere. The only reason that they appeared as the white masses seen from earth was because of the rays of sunlight being reflected through the water drops. Flying through it felt like the fine mist that came from a hose. Pity there wasn't a rainbow to go with it.

It was so calm and peaceful up among the clouds. Skimming over them without a care in the world, just feeling the small, barely there drops hitting and then sliding away was enough to make the tension in the day flit away. It was cleansing. It was like a mental sigh of relief as the day spun off into the non-important and drifted into a sigh of contentment.

:Incoming!:

It was unfortunate that all good things had to come to an end.

Wing flaps tilted in opposite directions, one all the way up and the other all the way down, and an extra pulse from the thrusters was all it took. Spinning off to the side, the heat from the missiles' small engines felt along the underside of the fuselage, the danger was averted for the moment. The wing flaps angled again, stopping the barrel roll before causing him to dip down into the clouds. The coolness that was normally calming was now just a veil to hide from the threat in the skies. All too soon the clouds were gone, showing chaos filling the skies below them.

Moving at speeds that easily exceeded that of Mach two, jets fought each other in vicious dogfights below the calm tranquility above them. Even further below on the ground, weapons were blasting away at each other but were studiously ignored as the sounds of another jet was barring down from behind. For now the war of the sky was more important than the fighting on the ground. Whoever gained the upper hand in the air would then wreak havoc on the ones fighting for the opposite side on the ground.

Both sets of wing flips tilted all the way up, causing the world to shift away and the clouds to come back into view. For a brief moment the calmness seemed to push away everything else but the F-15 fighter jet barreling through the clouds was enough to ruin the feeling completely. Unable to stop fast enough, the jet zipped under and in front as the loop was completed and the F-15 now in front.

Light particles were excited, charged to the point of being a high powered laser, and released in rapid fired bursts peppering the sky around the F-15 with weapon fire. The seemingly pale yellow beams looked beautiful to those who had never seen them before but the devastation they possessed was huge. Black smoke began to trail from the F-15 wings shortly after one pulse hit. While the damage wasn't extensive, the jet's ability to maneuver was almost completely gone. If it was lucky it might be able to turn around in the next twenty miles to reenter the fight. It posed no more of a threat than the clouds did so, with a hard bank to the left, the fight twisted back around into view. With an extra burst of speed, the fight was suddenly that much closer and more deadly.

Laser pulses and missiles streamed about as the jets seemed to dance around each other in the sky. Minuet changes in the tail flaps and quick variations in speed was spinning the world this way and that. Sometimes the earth filled the view and other times it was the endless expanse of white clouds above but it was constantly plagued with laser bursts, missiles and jets flying close together. The power from their engines were renting the air, causing it the scream as they blew through it, intent on blowing the enemy jets out of the sky.

:Slag!:

The voice echoed throughout his frame as the radio crackled to life. An F-4 Phantom II jet was trailing smoke from one of its wings. The red and white aircraft had merely been grazed but the hit had been enough of a distraction that the flyer seemed unaware of the other jet, this one maroon with white highlights, on its six with deadly intent. Engines revved as the battle suddenly flew so much closer and the smaller flyer was almost right there but still too far away for too help. The engines gave a frustrated whine as the other jet bared down, energy glowing as it prepared to release a shot at the distracted jet.

:Fireflight! On your six!:

An F-15 Eagle accelerated on the maroon jet with its laser pulses flashing all around it. The jet tried to bank away from the furious jet but the Eagle stayed on it, moving up alongside. In a fit of acrobatic grace, the Eagle spun in a barrel roll edging just a slight bit closer and hitting the other jet on the tip of his wing. Unready for the sudden forced adjustment to its flight pattern the jet spun away, wing flaps and thrust working hard to realign itself and bring it out into a level flight again. Yellow particles charged after it, driving it further away from the Phantom.

:You alright, 'Flight?:

:I'm fine, I've hit mountains harder than that,: The jet seemed to have a point, already the smoke trailing from its left wing was gone. :But thanks for the save, Air Raid.:

:Yeah, yeah. Happy, happy, joy, joy, and all that slag. Come on you two, focus! Where in the middle of a dogfight here!: A harrier jet swooped into view, seeming to suddenly pause in midflight as its engines realigned themselves. The F-15 chasing it swerved sharply to the left to avoid the collision with the floating jet. The harrier's engines shifted again and the slower jet opened fire on the other jet. :We can hold hands and be all emotional later!:

:So your actually going to join us this time without us dragging you out of your room?: Came a cheeky response as the Eagle wagged its wings and banked away from the F-4 who was already reentering combat. :I'm holding you too that!:

The reply was lost as energy crackled across a wing. The light pink energy didn't seem to be destructive; instead it seemed to burrow into his systems and power down some of the higher functions within, temporary disabling them. The engine on that side sputtered and the world stopped flying by as fast as it was. A warning came over the radio but the feeling of something colliding with him took his attention away from the message.

Hands gripped into a seam in the armored fuselage, pain flaring along the wires as they were cruelly pulled. Sensors weren't needed as the heat began to build, signaling a weapon was about to discharge. Knowing that there was only one way to get free from the other mech holding onto his back, a subroutine was activated and less than a nanosecond later armor and plating was shifting as wires realigned themselves along the struts underneath. It was much slower than normal but still quick enough to catch the mech perched on his back off guard. With the engines no longer propelling them forward, the two former jets dropped out of the sky.

"Are you slagging nuts!" came the cry of the mech hanging off him. The painful grip left as the other tried to pull away. A quick burst with his partially functioning thrusters turned his perception around. The other mech who had barely pulled away looked startled just as his large servos grabbed the red and blue mech, dragging him down too. The black helmet on his attacker's shoulders snapped back and forth as the other mech tried to free himself. "You're going to get us both killed!" came an un-Primus like screech from the mech thrashing around violently.

"No, we're just going to get slagged," he tried to stay calm as the ground started to rush towards them. He knew that the drop wouldn't kill either of them but both of them would be out of action for a while with the damages they were about to sustain. It's not like he had a way to prevent the fall, the Null Ray had taken most of his systems off line to begin with and it was a miracle that he could still transform at all. At least this way he was ensuring that there would be one less enemy aircraft in the sky to shoot down his brothers.

Seconds before he hit, he turned off his optics and his HUD display, surrendering to his fate as his fear of heights came back at the moment and he squeezed the other mech hard as he struggled to control his rising panic. The mech he held captive lived up to his name, screaming some form of obscenity at him, but the pitch was so high he wasn't sure what was being said. They were spinning out of control. A terrified voice was suddenly screaming at him over his comm. link.

:SILVERBOLT!:

Then he hit.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine

Author Notes: I made up the "A-One" Diner that happens to be in the middle of nowhere really Ohio. Don't bother trying to find it.

* * *

Secret Identity

Chapter Two

* * *

She jerked awake, scrambling about for a gun that wasn't there. It took her a moment to realize that she hadn't been shot down, that she wasn't in the middle of a battlefield, and that she wasn't a giant mechanical humanoid that could transform into a jet. She sat back on her heels and covered her face with both hands for a moment trying to calm down. "What the frag was that," she said out loud to herself. "It had been so _real_."

After another couple of minutes resting like that she began to feel somewhat calmer. She stood up and brushed at the dirt on her clothes, staring up the hill she had fallen down. It was brighter out now -not full daylight yet but the sun was definitely rising- and it offered her a better view of the hill. Judging by the grade of the slope and the amounts of trees and bushes covering it, she really didn't want to try climbing back up it. She glanced around, noticing that she was on a level spot before the hill continued down again, and walked over to the edge to investigate. Through the trees she noticed another road and, though the slope leading down to it was as steep as the one she had fallen down the night before, she felt it would be easier for her to slide down this slope then to try and climb back up the other one.

She slowly made her way down the slope, sliding from one tree to another. She didn't want to take another tumble down the hill like the night before and took extra time making sure that her legs were braced properly and that she didn't slide more than ten feet at a time. She still had to clean the mud from her first tumble off at some point. It was beginning to itch but she didn't know when she was going to get a chance to clean it off either. She reached the bottom of the incline and stepped up onto the road.

She looked back and forth for a moment trying to decide which way to go. After standing there looking about blankly, she shrugged to herself and turned left starting down the road. As far as she could tell, the small country road ran parallel to the highway where she had seen the Stunticons the night before. She didn't know why she knew this but the more she thought of them, the more positive she became that they were what cause her amnesia in the first place. They were most likely looking for her and she wanted to know why. As far as she could tell, she was still heading in the same direction they had been but, with their speed, they probably could have been to the Atlantic and back again by now. Twice.

Now that she was walking with no danger of falling down a hill or into any muddy gullies, she decided to take the free time to try and figure out what exactly was going on. She knew that something had happened to her, which had led to her amnesia, and whatever it was it had something to do with the Stunticons, who were currently trying to find her. The dream the night before had been real enough to make her act like she was still part of it when she had woken up. She was sure that it tied into this mystery as well. Maybe she should go to Portland and ask the Autobots to their faces what was going on?

She snorted to herself and kicked a rock off the pavement as she continued to walk along. That was impossible. Besides the fact that she would probably be arrested for trespassing on government property, she would have to somehow convince the Autobots themselves to let her in. Knowing them, they probably had some kind of super advanced security system that could tell them her every move while she was still somewhere on the other side of the planet.

She heaved a sigh knowing that she was getting nowhere fantasizing on how she was going to be arrested by either government officials or an Autobot on patrol. She just had too many questions and no way to answer any of them. Like why was that dream she had from the first person perspective with a HUD overlay? Why the Stunticons were after her? Who was she? What had happened to her to put her naked in the middle of a field? Why did Sideswipe constantly bait Ratchet when he knew that he was going to be beat within an inch of his life with a wrench?! She stopped walking and clutched at her head, whimpering but refusing to give into the urge to scream out, 'What the frag is going on?!'

After a moment she started moving again, trying not to think of anything as she continued down the road. A bird somewhere nearby let out a little trill and she watched absentmindedly as the small finch flew across the road in front of her. She smiled as she followed the finch as it darted through the trees until it was out of sight. It had looked so happy fluttering along like that. She glanced at the sky and sighed. Seeing that bird made her realize how much she missed flying.

She continued to walk down the side of the road as the sun climbed into the sky. She didn't know what time it was exactly but she was beginning to feel restless not having a direction in which to go or to even figure out what was going on. She needed to have something to go on because right now she felt like she was flailing around in the dark hoping to get luck and guess something correctly. She needed to take a mental step back and prioritize what she had to figure out if only to just help keep her calm.

First, she had to figure out the questions then she could put them in order. She needed to know who she was, what had happened to her, why the Stunuticon were after her, and what was with her having flashback like dreams from Silverbolt's perspective. She frowned as she thought about how to prioritize them. Why the Stunticons were after her, the flashback and what had happened to her were most likely all intermixed with each other and would most likely be the biggest pain to figure out. Comparatively, figuring out she was seemed rather easy and it could be highly beneficial. Maybe she was actually a police officer or an FBI agent. With the resource she might have she could easily figure out her other questions and piece together the mystery surrounding her.

The sound of a car approaching brought her out of her musing and she tensed up in fear, listening closely to the engine, ready to run for cover at a moment's notice. It didn't sound over powered, if anything it sounded under powered and desperately in the need of a tune up if the occasional clunking noise was anything to go by. After hesitating for a second, she continued walking down the side of the road. Whatever was coming was not a Stunticon. No way would they ever let any of their engines fall into that state of disrepair.

She figured that if she continued to just nonchalantly walk down the side of the road whoever was coming would just continue on by and leave her be. She really didn't want to have to answer any of the questions she knew would be forth coming if someone saw her appearance. She was pretty sure she looked awful while this splattered with mud and with twigs in her hair. Besides, she hadn't had time to think about who she was. What was she going to do if they asked for her name? She heaved a sigh and tucked her hands in her pockets, hoping to add to the illusion that everything was fine and she just happened to be walking down the road with a backpack on.

Her hopes were dashed as the engine came up behind her and began to slow down. She grumbled to herself, she should have hidden off on the side of the road until whoever it was drove by. She wondered if she ignored the person or people in the vehicle it would convince them to drive off. The vehicle had other ideas in mind, just as it came to a rolling stop beside her it let out a loud bang of a backfire, causing her to jump into the air frightened.

"Sorry about that missy," came an accented voice followed by a croaky laugh. Despite wanting to have nothing to do with another person, she could help but look at the older gentleman driving the beat up pickup truck that was the color of rust. The man was patting the wheel fondly, "I've been working on her for decades and I still haven't figured out how to get rid of that backfire. It adds to her personality I think."

It added to something but what she wasn't really sure.

"Oh my word, are you alright miss?" The older man's playful tone darkened in concern. This was what she had been dreading and she found her tongue tied as the man leaned out the window of his truck, taking in her muddy appearance. "You look like you've been rolling around in a pig pen."

She knew she looked bad but she was kind of hoping that the man was exaggerating a little bit. "I, uh…" she glanced down the road trying to think of a reasonable excuse on why she looked like she did. "…fell off the road and into a gully away back." It wasn't totally a lie. She had fallen into a muddy gully last night. She just wasn't on the road at the time. "I didn't hurt anything except for my pride." That still kind of stung, especially when the man began laughing at her, going so far as to slap the steering wheel several times. A blush rose up her neck and face and she found the ground suddenly very fascinating.

"Ya poor kid," the old man said after another moment of laughing, finally composing himself. "God, you've had it rough," he nodded his head to the other side of his truck. "Come around and get in. I'll drive you up to the A-One Diner and get old Rosie to let you use the employee bathroom so that you can get that mud off your face at least."

She didn't want to get in the truck with the man, not because she thought he meant her any harm but because she didn't want him to get hurt. If the Stunticons were after her and found him with her, they wouldn't hesitate to kill him. However, she did want to get cleaned up. Maybe if she was just around him for a bit, the Stunticons wouldn't know he helped her? "How far is it to the A-One Dinner?"

The man gave her an unreadable look before blatantly looking her up and down. She felt uncomfortable. "You're not from around here," he said more to himself than her. "Where are you from, kid?"

This was what she had been dreading, the questions that could eventually exposed the fact that she had amnesia. She didn't know why it was so important to hide -maybe she was afraid of hospitals?- but she knew she had to stay hidden. She swallow, trying to wet her suddenly dry mouth, and quietly said, "Portland, Oregon." It… made sense, somehow.

One of the old man's eyebrows rose up as an unreadable look crossed his face, "You're really far from home. What are you doing in the backwoods of Ohio anyway?" That was a good question, but even as she opened her mouth to try and come up with a halfhearted explanation, the truck's driver cut her off. "Oh Christ, you're a runaway aren't you?"

"No." At least she didn't think she was.

The old man gave her a disbelieving look. 'Right, sure you're not."

"I'm really not," she said forcing a smile on her face and trying to look innocent.

He heaved a sigh and scratched at the top of his head, rustling the few remaining white hairs he had left. "Look, I'm not going to argue with you," he said after a moment with a long suffering sound with it. "So if you say you're not a runaway you're not a runaway." She wasn't really sure how to respond to that and stood by mutely, watching and waiting to see what would happen next. After another moment of waiting as the older man tried to flatten down the three tousled strands he had remaining, he spoke again. "You still want a ride up to the diner?"

She hesitated for a moment. She really didn't have a destination in mind and for now it seemed unlikely that the Stunticons would show up right away. Considering that they had pulled over when they initially drove passed meant that they didn't have any way to track her. It was possible that they knew her by looks but she did have a hat and glasses. "Alright I guess…"

He smiled warmly, "Well, hope on in! She may not be in the best of shapes but she's the best when it comes from driving from point 'A' to point 'B'." He patted the side of the truck fondly; acting like it was more of a child to him than just an automobile.

It drew a matching smile from her. It was fitting, thought the poor truck was in desperate need of an engine cleaning. She walked around the rear of the truck heading for the passenger side door as she wondered how fast First Aid would arrive after she told him that there was a truck in serious need of repairs.

That caused her step to hitch slightly. How did she know First Aid well enough to be on a one on one talking bases with him? Did the Protectobot rescue her at one point? No, now that she thought of it, she talked to First Aid a lot. She talked to all of the Protectobots a lot, especially Hot Spot, who she actually looked down at slightly when they were talking.

"Hop on in," the old man said as he leaned over the seat and undid the lock, effectively derailing her current train of thought. "Sorry if it's a tad bit uncomfortable. Never did get around to fixing the seat after I got done working at the train yard." She opened the door and climbed into the battered seat that was supporting a stain that looked a lot like oil but had dried over time. "Carried my tool box on it the entire time I had her. Broke down the supports faster than I had thought possible."

She nodded her head as she buckled herself in feeling even worst for the old truck than she had before. It had obviously seen a lot of work and had a very rough life. She made a mental note to memorize the license plate number and send First Aid out with his medical kit when she talked to him again.

Though she wanted to ponder her apparent relationship with the Protectobots, it seemed that the old man wanted to fill the drive with small talk. "My names Gary by the way. Gary White. What's yours?"

A feeling of dread washed its way over her. This had been what she had feared all along. What was she supposed to say? She winced as the truck let out a harsh backfire and black smoked puffed out the muffler as Gary started down the road again which helped to distract her for a moment. The truck seemed to be shaking slightly.

"Don't you worry missy, she hasn't fallen apart yet. She may rattle and shake but she's still the workhorse she was twenty years ago," he barked out another laugh before prompting her again. "So, what's your name?"

An image of a blonde hair girl popped into her head. Looking down at her, she barely reached up to her knee, but had pitched her voice loud enough that she didn't have to bend or kneel down or adjust her audio settings to hear her better. She was talking excitedly about something, almost too fast to process but she recognized the strange designation format that had been uploaded earlier. "Carly Robinson."

Something strange seemed to happen then as a feeling of wrongness seemed to prickle through her. Images and thoughts raced through her mind, none of them from her perspective yet she knew that they were her own. There were images of her talking to and being around other Autobots -from a height much taller than her current one- and sudden flashes of battles with Decepticons clamored for her attention. It was almost too much. She knew she was shaking and was silently thankful that the truck was hiding that. She squeezed her hand with the other so hard it hurt, something that helped to center herself back on what was happening around her.

She didn't think that Gary White would want her panicking about memories that were and weren't her own.

"Carly huh?" The whole episode had lasted for about a second but it felt like she had relived a year or more. "That's a pretty name. How old are you?"

"Twenty," at least that was what Carly's age was. She knew she was considerably younger but saying that she was a year and a half old in human time would probably get her sent to a hospital and a psychiatric ward as fast as Gary could drive. Another shiver went through her as she realized that. She was very young, alone, and with a large swatch of memories that were getting more and more traumatic with every passing moment. She bit her lip and looked out the window at the trees that passed by, trying her best to force the memories down enough so that she could still pretend to act normal even though it was fast becoming apparent that she was anything but normal.

Gary snorted, "You look a lot younger than that. I would have thought that you were in high school when I first saw you."

He didn't know how true he was. "I get that a lot. I'm…" She went out on a bit of a limb as she tried to make herself sound a little bit normal, "A little small for my age."

Her awkward attempt at small talked seemed to have worked as the older man laughed at that. "Small? Christ, I thought you were a kid when I saw you walking on the side of the road."

She ducked her head, pretending to be slightly embarrassed as she ruthlessly shoved another memory from her mind. It was one that had her looking up at a familiar autobot jet leaning over her laughing about something, one that was so painstakingly familiar that her chest ached to see him. She was going to have to look at all these new memories later. Right now she had to keep up her disguise. "I know."

"Aw, I'm sorry, Carly." Gary did sound honest in his apology. "I didn't mean to upset you."

She heaved a sigh and sat up straight, giving him a small smile, "Like I said I get that a lot. Don't worry about it."

The older man grunted as he reached towards the lever on the steering column to activate the blinker. "Welp, here's the A-One dinner, best greasy food in the whole area and has good old Rosie to help make it cozy. Just don't tell her I told you she was old." The old man gave her a conspiratorial wink as he pulled up into a parking space in front of the building. "She tends to get a bit miffed about being called old."

"Okay," She agreed amicably as she got out of the truck. The old man took his time turning the truck off and had to dig around for his wallet that had fallen out of his pocket and had somehow gotten wedge underneath the seat. He had refused her help as he struggled to get at his wallet so she shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, wondering what exactly it was she should do.

She didn't have long to wait. It was just enough time for her to be wondering if she should attempt to help regardless of what he said when he stood up with a smile of triumph. "Never had that happen before. Honestly didn't know it could do that." She couldn't help but flinch at that. The last time she had heard those words she had just been blasted through a wall by whatever device Wheeljack had been carrying past her in the hall.

She shivered in disgust as she relived that memory. Ratchet had been ranting at Wheeljack loud enough that it drowned out his attempt to apologize. Inferno was putting out a fire and Prowl was demanding to know what was going on in that quiet way of his that seemed to attract everyone's attention. Ratchet stopped working long enough to point at Wheeljack and told him to shut up, which took the added pressure off her internals despite the warning that popped up on her HUD.

She resolutely crossed her arms over her stomach, ensuring that it wasn't still cracked open.

"Huh? You alright there Carly? You look like you just had to watch someone gut a deer."

Or herself. "I'm fine," somehow she managed to keep her voice relatively steady. "It's good to see you manage to free your wallet."

Gray was still giving her a worried look but instead of prying gestured to the door of the small building. "Yeah, bit of a pain that was. Come on, I'll introduce you to Rosie and then you can get cleaned up a bit."

She rubbed at the dried mud on her cheek, "That would be nice…"

The A-One diner was called just that by the large cheerfully bright red and yellow sign on the building itself. A small foyer opened up into a dining room that had booths along the walls and a smattering of tables and chairs throughout the floor. On the far side of the room was a bar that had stools before it and soda machines and a counter to retrieve orders behind it. There were a handful of other costumers in the diner but beside a few waves that Gary returned, everyone seemed too engrossed in their conversations and food to pay much attention to them.

Carly followed him up to the bar and perched on the stool to the man's right. She glanced around the room, looking at the black and white photos and trinkets that lined the walls as she rubbed her stomach again. Her skin was still trying to crawl off her at the thought of Ratchet having his hands in her guts. Her attention was just being drawn to the television sat up on a shelf behind the bar when a rather large, older woman came through the swinging door that led back to the kitchen.

"Good morning Rosie," Gary said with a sloppy looking salute. "Having a good day?"

Rosie turned to him with a large smile already breaking out on her face as she smoothed down the large white apron that covered the blue skirt she was wearing. "It will be once the dishwasher learns how to do his job. I still haven't figure out how he seems to forget how to wash…" her voice trailed off as she notice Carly sitting next to Gray. "Are you alright?!" she asked aghast, bustling over at a much faster rate than Carly would have thought. "Good Lord, do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No, I'm fine," Carly held up her hands as if to ward off the motherly concern that was radiating off the woman in front of her. "Really, I just fell face first in the mud, that's all."

"I would've take her straight to the hospital if she had been hurt Rosie," Gray tried to soothed the woman slightly. "You know that. She just needs to clean herself up a bit-"

Gary did have to say anymore as Rosie cut him off with a wave of her hand, "Come along now dear. There's a bathroom in the back that has a large sink and some good soap that you can use to clean up with."

Carly didn't even get a chance to say anything more as Rosie hustled her from her seat and around the end of the bar with just a few hand gestures. She was walking underneath the television when the headline caught her attention making her stop dead in her tracks.

It said, "Silverbolt MIA."

The news was just coming back from a commercial break and the girl calling herself Carly listened with rapt attention as the news anchor spoke. "And now recap of our top story. In an Autobot Decepticon skirmish on the outskirts of Denver yesterday, the Autobot known as Silverbolt was hit with an unknown energy weapon which caused the transformer to collapse and fade away in an explosion of light. Our own Melissa Harper is currently on the scene."

"Thank you Dennis," The television went away from the news center to a battlefield marred with various burn and skid marks acting as a back drop for the young female reporter. "Around three o'clock yesterday afternoon, the Autobot Silverbolt was hit with an unknown energy weapon that, according to eyewitness reports, had originally been aimed at the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime. Silverbolt had shoved the Autobot Commander out of the way and took the hit himself. Now here is where eyewitness reports are varying, Dennis. About half of the eyewitnesses are describing Silverbolt being blown apart and then disintegrated, while the other half is saying he just faded away completely.

The Autobots were able to recover the beam weapon used on Silverbolt and are currently analyzing it to figure out its intended function. Autobot scouts are still scouring the area looking for anything from their fallen comrade or a clue to his whereabouts but have yet to turn up anything. About an hour ago, Autobot Second in Command Jazz held a press conference on the developments of the case. All the SIC said in regards to Silverbolt was that he currently considered Missing In Action despite the eyewitness are claiming he was destroyed. When questioned about his reasoning, Jazz said that the Autobots had concrete evidence that he was still online but they couldn't share what the evidence was in case the Decepticons attempted to use that to their advantage. Back to you Dennis."

"_Oh Primus_,' Carly thought to herself as the news continued on to a different story. "_What about the other Aerialbots?_"

"_What about my brothers?_"


End file.
